Etymologically
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amita

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈa.mɪ.ta][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.mi.ta][1]

Forms

amita f (genitive amitae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive of the nursery word Proto-Indo-European *amma (“mother”).[1][2][3] Compare Old High German amma (“wet nurse”), Old Norse amma (“grandmother”) and Ancient Greek ἀμμά (ammá, “mother”).[1][4][3] Isidore explains it as ⟨alia māter⟩ “another mother”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero, whom he dates 81–43 BC.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It meant a father's sister, a paternal aunt, as in Cicero, Livy and Tacitus, the mother's sister being mātertera.[4][7][8] In Paulus' definitions amita magna was a grandfather's sister, and amita maior and amita maxima still remoter aunts.[4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a paternal aunt.[9] Medieval Latin used it for the wife of one's father's brother and for a father's concubine.[10] Old French ante gave French tante and English aunt about 1300.[1][2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a paternal aunt.[7][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses amita magna.[8][6]
  • c. 1300 – English aunt is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A father's sister, paternal aunt.[4]
  2. amita magna, a great-aunt.[4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An uncle's wife.[10]

Word family

  • abamita
  • amitīnus
  • proamita

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill